Adjustable cable hopper door actuating mechanism



1 May 25, '1965 R. A. PETERsoN v ADJUSTABLE CABLE HOPPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed June 22, `19a-:o

5 Sheets-Sheet 1 TTRNEYS ADJUSTABLE ABLE `HOPPER` Doon ACTUATING MEGHANISM Filed June 22. 1960 Many` 25, 1965 R. A. PETERSON 3 Sheets-Sheet 2 INVENToR. ePaZeri n. Jpezzerson BY ATwRNEYs May 25, 1965 R. A. PETERSON 3,185,528

ADJUSTABLE CABLE HOPPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM Filed June 22. 1960 s sheets-sheet s IN V EN TOR.

m oaberi R. cRie rzsorl BY ATTORNEYS United States Patent() 3,185,528 ADJUSTABLE CABLE HOPPER DOOR ACTUATING MECHANISM Robert A. Peterson, San Leandro, Calif., assignor to Caterpillar Tractor Co., Peoria, lll., a corporation of California Filed June 22, 1960, Ser. No. 37,993 2 Claims. (Cl. 298-35) This invention relates to .dump wagons or other dump vehicles in which the contents of the vehicle body are discharged through the bottom which is formed of a pair of downwardly swinging doors and particularly to the actuating mechanism employed for closing such doors.

Cables controlled by hydraulic jacks are conventionally used on many bottom dump vehicles and give rise to trouble because parts of the mechanism and particularly sheaves over which the cables are reeved are subject to impact by rock and other materials being discharged.

Another disadvantage of cable controlled dump wagon doors is that it is difficult to adjust cables to effect simultaneous and therefore complete closing of both doors and, even when such adjustment has been made, unequal stretch of cable parts in use results in the necessity for further adjustment. j

It is the object of the present invention to overcome the shortcomings referred to above and to provide actuating mechanisms for bottom dump wagon doors wherein the operating parts are maintained out of the path of material being discharged and wherein cables employed in actuating the doors are adjustable by simple and easily accessible means to synchronize the operation of the doors.

Further objects and advantages of the invention and the manner in which the invention is carried into practice are made apparent in the following specication wherein reference is made to the accompanying drawings.

In the drawings:

FIG. l is a schematic view in side elevation showing a typical bottom dump wagon with the color actuating mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a schematic sectional view taken on the line II-II of FIG. l;

FIG. 3 is a similar view taken on the line III- III of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a bottom plan view of the body portion and door actuating mechanism of the wagon shown in FIG. l;

FIG. 5 is an enlarged fragmentary view in perspective of the adjusting mechanism of the present invention;

FIG. 6 is an enlarged view in side elevation of a portion of the mechanism shown in FIG. 5; and

FIG. 7 is a sectional view taken on the line VII-VII of FIG. 6.

A typical bottom dump wagon is shown in FIG. l as comprising a body por-tion 10 supported at the rear by wheels 11 which are suitably journaled -to a partially shown rearwardly extending frame 12. The forward end of this wagon is supported through a draft frame shown at 13 connected with a hitch `14 of a tractor, one of the rear wheels of which is shown at 15. The bottom of the body 1t) is, as shown in FIGS. 2, 3 and 4, formed of a pair of doors 16 and 18 hinged to the bottom along their outer edges as by hinges shown in dotted lines at 19 in FIG. 4 so that they may swing downwardly and outwardly to the positions illustrated in broken lines in FIGS. 2 and 3 for the purpose of discharging the contents of the wagon.

The doors 16 and 18 are closed and held in their closed position by a hydraulic jack illustrated at 20, secured to the side of t-he wagon as by a clamping device 21. The jack 20 is connected to the doors by means of cables, there being one cable connected at its ends to the opposite ICC ends of the door 16 and passing through a yoke 22 on the extensible rod of the jack. Another cable has its ends connected to the opposite ends of the door 18 and also passes over the yoke 22, the construction of the yoke being hereinafter described in detail.

The reeving of the cables is best shown in FIGS. 2, 3

and 4 wherein one cable 24 has an end anchored as at 25 to the forward edge of the door 18 and passes upwardly over a sheave 26, thence lthrough the upper sheave in a double sheave block 27, then rearwardly through a double sheave block 28. From this point, the cable 24 is directed forwardly through the yoke 22 and again rearwardly through double sheave blocks 29 and 30 and over sheave 31 (FIG. 3) after which it is again anchored as at 32 to the rear edge of the door 18. A cable 34 for actuating the door 16 is similarly anchored to the front of the door as at 3S and passes over a sheave 36 through the double blocks 27 and 28 through the yoke 22, double blocks 29 and 30, thence over a sheave 38 on the back of the Wagon body to an anchor 39 on the rear edge of the door 16.

v With the reeving of the cables above described, slack is created by extending the rod of the jack 20 to permit the yoke 22 to approach the double block 28 and the doors are permitted to swing downwardly to the broken line position illustrated in FIGS. 2 and 3. Conversely retraction of the piston rod of the jack takes up this slack and closes the doors.

To insure synchronized and full closing of the doors 16 and 18, the yoke 22 4is provided with cable adjusting means, the specific construction of which is illustrated in FIGS. 5, 6 and 7. In FIG. 5, the yoke is shown in the position it occupies when the rod of the jack is extended, `a portion of the rod being illustrated at 41 so that the yoke is positioned adjacent -the double sheave block 28. The yoke 22 comprises two side plates 43 and 44 which are connected at one end -to an eye 45 formed in the end of the jack rod 41 by means of a flanged bushing 46 extending through the side plates 43 and 44 and also through the eye 45 and secured in place as by cap screws 47 extending through the liange at one end of the bushing. The opposite ends of the plates 43 and 44 are joined as by an end plate 49 welded or otherwise suitably secured to them. An arcua-te cable guide 50 is fixed in the space between the plates 43 and 44 for one of the cables which in the present case is the cable 24. A similar arcuate cable guide 51 is slidably mounted between the guide 5t) and the side plate 43 of the yoke. The guide 51 is coniined to sliding movement longitudinally of the yoke by a pair of pins or cap screws 53 which are threaded into the xed guide 50 and extend through elongated slots 54 in the guide 51. Upon being tightened, the cap screws 53 will spring the side plate 43 inwardly for securing the guide 51 against adjustment. Upon being loosened, they free the guide 51 for sliding movement and a pair of adjusting screws 56 are threaded through the end plate 49 for engagement With the at edge of the guide member 51. Lock nuts 57 may be employed to secure screws 56 in any position of adjustment.

The function of the screws 56 .is to adjust the position of the member 51 to change the effective length of the cable which passes over it, in this case the cable 34 which closes the doors 16, to synchronize its closing with that of the door 18 which is controlled by the cable 24.

As is apparent from FIG. 5, advancing of the screws 56 will shorten the effective length of the cable 34 and retraction of the screws will increase its effective length and this simple adjustment in either direction can easily be made by reason of the readily accessible position of the adjusting means. Tightening of the Screws 53 after proper adjustment is obtained aids in very securely holding the member 51 in its adjusted position.

Since the cables 24 and 34 are free to slide over the members 50 and 51, tension on opposite ends of each cable will automatically be equalized and no unusual stresses are imparted to any particular part of the cable. Because of the fact that the cables passing through the double sheave block 29, see FG. 4, must pass above the double sheave block 28, then through the yoke 22 and back to the sheave block 28, the yoke tends to assume an angular position which it is free to do because the piston, not shown on the jack rod 41, is free to rotate in its cylinder. This position of the yoke would tend to lead the cables to and from the sheaves at a slight angle with respect to the planes in which they rotate. To relieve this undesirable position, the member 51, as best shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, is otset with respect to the member 50 in the yoke to eect alignment of the cables with the sheaves and eliminate unnecessary Wear of the cables and sheaves which results from misalignment.

I claim:

l. In a bottom dump wagon having a pair of hinged doors adapted to swing downwardly from opposite sides of a wagon body and having centrally and longitudinally disposed meeting edges when closed and forwardly and rearwardly disposed opposite ends, a separate cable for closing each door, extensible power means for exerting a pull on said cables, a pair of guide members carried by said extensible power means, each of said cables having its ends anchored to said opposite ends of one of said doors and its central portion passing over one of said pair of guide members, and threaded means to adjust one of the guide members relative to the other to equalize the effective lengths of the cables, said guide members comprising a pair of plates each having an arcuate edge over which a cable may pass.

2. In a bottom dump wagon having a pair of hinged doors adapted to swing downwardly from opposite sides of a wagon body and having centrally and longitudinally disposed meeting edges when closed and forwardly and rearwardly disposed opposite ends, a separate cable for closing each door, extensible power means for exerting a pull on said cables, a pair of guide members carried by said extensible power means, each of said cables having its ends anchored to said opposite ends of one of said doors and its central portion passing over one of said pair of guide members, threaded means to adjust one of the guide members relative to the other to equalize the eective lengths of the cables, said guide members comprising a pair of plates each having an arcuate edge over which a cable may pass, and means supporting the guide members to swivel on an axis parallel to the direction of extension of said power means.

References Cited by the Examiner UNITED STATES PATENTS 789,552 5/05 Krohn 298-37 853,275 5/ 07 Underhill 298-37 867,366 10/07 Heberling 298-37 871,012 11/07 Watson et al. 298-37 948,358 2/ 10 Underhill 298-33 1,391,184 9/21 Grupe 74-240 1,565,646 12/25 Hobbs 187-1.1 1,917,691 7/33 Belt 226-187 2,023,233 12/ 35 Kuchar 298-35 2,030,137 2/36 Choate et al 298-35 2,575,355 11/51 Mork 298-35 2,721,761 10/ 55 Le Tourneau 10S-240 X 2,760,816 8/56 Kling 298-35 X 2,802,639 8/57 Troyer 254-190 2,943,886 7/ 60 Wilkinson 298-35 LEO QUACKENBUSH, Primary Examiner.

JAMES S. SHANK, Examiner. 

1. IN A BOTTOM DUMP WAGON HAVING A PAIR OF HINGED DOORS ADAPTED TO SWING DOWNWARDLY FROM OPPOSITE SIDES OF A WAGON BODY AND HAVING CENTRALLY AND LONGITUDINALLY DISPOSED MEETING EDGES WHEN CLOSED AND FORWARDLY AND REARWARDLY DISPOSED OPPOSITE ENDS, A SEPARATE CABLE FOR CLOSING EACH DOOR, EXTENSIBLE POWER MEANS FOR EXERTING A PULL ON SAID CABLES, A PAIR OF GUIDE MEMBERS CARRIED BY SAID EXTENSIBLE POWER MEANS, EACH OF SAID CABLES HAVING ITS ENDS ANCHORED TO SAID OPPOSITE ENDS OF ONE OF SAID DOORS AND ITS CENTRAL PORTION PASSING OVER ONE OF SAID PAIR OF GUIDE MEMBERS, AND THREADED MEANS TO ADJUST ONE OF THE GUIDE MEMBERS RELATIVE TO THE OTHER TO EQUALIZE THE EFFECTIVE LENGTHS OF THE CABLES, SAID GUIDE MEMBERS COMPRISING A PAIR OF PLATES EACH HAVING AN ARCUATE EDGE OVER WHICH A CABLE MAY PASS. 